Expendables in action

Top Stories

Expendables in action

Stallone’s “arthritic” heroes roll their tanks through Cannes

By (Reuters)

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Tue 20 May 2014, 12:16 PM

Last updated: Fri 3 Apr 2015, 5:46 PM

Dolph Lundgren, Kellan Lutz, Glen Powell, Antonio Banderas, Kelsey Grammer, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronda Rousey pose during a photocall for the film The Expendables

Dolph Lundgren, Kellan Lutz, Glen Powell, Antonio Banderas, Kelsey Grammer, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronda Rousey pose during a photocall for the film The Expendables

Tanks rolled down the beachfront in Cannes on Sunday, as Sylvester Stallone led an invasion of action stars “with arthritis” to publicise The Expendables 3.

Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mel Gibson waved at fans from three tanks that drove slowly down the main boulevard in the French Riviera town where the international film festival is in its fifth day.

Later, when the cast of the film walked the red carpet at the main festival venue, they held up signs saying “Bring back our girls” in support of the campaign to free the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by militants.

The film, which is not in competition, also features Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Wesley Snipes and the cast was asked by reporters to describe just what makes a good action star.

“You have to be incredibly intelligent, handsome, sexy, good teeth, high IQ, a lot of hair ...” Stallone joked. “What makes the audience like a person, it’s not a matter of muscles,” he told a news conference.“There’s something that’s almost intangible and I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s very rare because there have only been about 15 action heroes, real serious ones, in history.”

Stallone, one of the film’s writers, said it took three movies to get the Expendables formula just right, judging the first as being too violent and the second too soft.

“I believe we finally got it right in the third one - kind of like marriage.”

Stallone acknowledged that he and the rest of the cast belonged to a “different generation”, but still had the energy and drive to make an exciting, contemporary film.

“We’re all like very adult children,” Stallone said. “We are children with arthritis. We are young forever.”

The third instalment of the franchise sees Barney Ross (Stallone) bringing in new blood to his team of mercenaries to take on Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), a former comrade now seeking to eradicate the group.

One of the newbies is played by Kelsey Grammar, best known for his role as the pompous psychiatrist on the television sitcom, Frasier.


More news from